So quickly did the first LIFT festival fundraising reading of Truman Capote‘s A Christmas Memory with Mark Rylance and Juliet Stevenson sell out, that a second has been organised with two other great luminaries of the stage, Dame Diana Rigg and Charles Dance.

Capote‘s A Christmas Memory is the tender recollection of a short and innocent period in the life of the seven-year-old narrator and his older distant cousin and best friend in 1930s America.

As Christmas approaches, they embark on a ritual involving friendship, cake, country life and the joy of giving – a ritual soon to be lived only in memory.

LIFT presents an intimate festive reading of this evocative story in the candlelit glory of the newly restored King‘s College Chapel, from the multi award-winning Dame Diana Rigg and Screen Actors Guild award-winner and BAFTA and Emmy nominee Charles Dance.

The story was first published in 1956 and is an enduring gift from a literary powerhouse. It will be staged with a distinctive LIFT twist, courtesy of immersive theatre company Look Left, Look Right and cellist Harry Napier.

Each performer has given their time for free and all proceeds will support LIFT and its work in bringing ground-breaking international artists and theatre to London.

A Christmas Memory is at King‘s College London, Strand Campus College Chapel, Strand on Wednesday, December 10 at 7.30pm. Details: liftfestival.com